


Love is Blindness

by TurtleTeapot



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet, Drabble, Established Relationship, Ficlet, M/M, So much angst, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-14
Updated: 2012-10-14
Packaged: 2017-11-16 07:13:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/536861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TurtleTeapot/pseuds/TurtleTeapot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce and Tony talk about their relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love is Blindness

„What do you even know about love, Banner? “ Tony asks from his place across the room, fingertips pressed together and curious, calculating eyes fixed on Bruce like he was just another experiment, just another one of his robots.

“With you, it’s like drowning in a cold, deep well. There’s never enough air for both of us.” Bruce replies. He’s sitting on an elegant, white designer couch and never in his life had he felt so lost before. “It’s like microchips and cold steel. It’s inorganic. It was bound to happen and bound to go wrong.” Bruce avoids meeting Tony’s eyes. They both know that they have to keep their distance, both physical and emotional, in order to really talk.

“It was a dangerous idea to begin with. No, don’t look at me like that. This has nothing to do with the Hulk. It’s just…you can see right inside of me and I know all you see is a deep, gaping hole. I never wanted you to find out what’s in there. We both lock our darker sides away. You’re just a deadly as me. We’re dangerous…”

“We’re a time bomb.” Bruce finishes Tony’s sentence and there is a bitter smile on his lips.

“Yes, we are. Love is blindness, Bruce, and I don’t want you to see me.” Tony turns his back on Bruce, starts pacing around in the room that suddenly feels to him like it stretches, distorts. They are in their own world where everything is broken. “I honestly don’t know why you haven’t left already. I would’ve given you everything but you only ask for the impossible.”

“Where else would I go? You took the color out of everything I had in this world. You wanted to be everything for me. You consumed me entirely. There’s nothing left. I asked the same of you, but you can only show love by sacrificing yourself. I still don’t want to lose you, Tony, but I’m not sure I ever had you.” Bruce massages his temples. “You say love is blindness, but I loved you for what I saw in you. In the end though, you closed yourself off to me. I don’t want your masks. I don’t want Iron Man or the head of Stark Industries. I don’t want your coldness and empty promises. To be honest, I want nothing of what you give to me.”

“Then why don’t you leave? I’ve had enough of you, Bruce. I’m so done with you playing the victim. You were the architect of your own misery and you’re nothing without me. You’re a mirror, Bruce, and you can only reflect what others see in you. Without me to bring out your good side, you’re just the monster everyone believes you to be. I’m what made you human again and you throw it all away. Be honest with me, Bruce, you never loved me. You loved the idea of me, the concept of somebody seeing past the monster. You never accepted me for who I am.” Tony is furious now. He digs his fingers into his hair, nails scratching over his scalp in frustration. His voice is agitated, his movements erratic.

“Part of this is true, Tony, but you got the details wrong. I never accepted the persona you chose to show me and the rest of the world. I never accepted or loved the walls of lies you erected to hide your true self. You tried to drown your sorrows in scotch, but surprise surprise, they learned how to swim. Being the smart man you are, you accepted them, but you locked them inside of you and chose to simply become the mask. You try to be Iron Man, but the man I love is Tony Stark. I don’t want your grandeur, I want your tiny, black, shriveled heart. I want the broken man you keep hidden inside that whole in your chest. You never even tried to understand me, did you? Because ultimately, you don’t seem to know me at all. I don’t love you for seeing past the monster, I love you because you’re like me. We’re both monsters and broken men. We can only destroy. We’re two sides of the same coin and all I ask of you is to stop trying to be something you’re not. I can only accept myself if I am with you. I wanted you to be the Bigfoot to my Yeti.”

“Bigfoot to your Yeti? That was pretty adorable, Banner.” Bruce hears Tony chuckle. Tony had closed most of the distance between them, is standing right in front of him now. Their eyes meet and Bruce can see his own reflection in them.

“It’s pure egoism, right? You want me because with me, you’re not the only monster. Birds of a feather and all that shit. You do realize that we’ll never be happy together, right?”

“I don’t need to be happy to live, Tony. All I need is you.”


End file.
